NEW ORLEANS – Arkansas Razorback Erick Walder will be part of the inaugural class of 30 named to the USTFCCCA Collegiate Athlete Hall of Fame induction class for 2022.
An induction ceremony will be held on June 6, 2022, in the Hult Center for Performing Arts in Eugene, Oregon, the week of the NCAA Championships.
Walder, who competed for the Razorbacks from 1991-94, joins an esteemed group of 15 men in the initial class of the Collegiate Athlete Hall of Fame for the sports of track & field and cross country.
Other men selected for the inaugural induction include Ralph Boston (Tennessee State), Ron Delany (Villanova), Harrison Dillard (Baldwin Wallace), Charlie Greene (Nebraska), DeHart Hubbard (Michigan), Carl Lewis (Houston), Gerry Lindgren (Washington State), Randy Matson (Texas A&M), Ralph Metcalfe (Marquette), Rodney Milburn (Southern), Bobby Morrow (Abilene Christian), Suleiman Nyambui (UTEP), Billy Olson (Abilene Christian), Jesse Owens (Ohio State), Mel Patton (USC), Steve Prefontaine (Oregon), Henry Rono (Washington State), Jim Ryun (Kansas), and John Woodruff (Pittsburgh).
Walder’s prowess in the long jump and triple jump was so strong that it made him the winningest field eventer in NCAA Division I history, collecting 10 titles overall.
That’s no small feat at Arkansas, whose dominance in the long jump – triple jump combination has the next two athletes on the list with nine. Six of Walder’s NCAA crowns came indoors with three-straight sweeps in each event from 1994-96, making him the only athlete with three consecutive sweeps in any pair of events at the NCAA Division I Indoor championships.
Walder, who also had an LJ/TJ sweep outdoors, earned most of his success in the long jump. His second of three-straight outdoor crowns included a second-consecutive meet record in 1993, which still stands – not only as the meet record, but also as the low-altitude collegiate record at 28-0 (8.53). In El Paso of April 1994, Walder set a still-standing collegiate record at 28-8.25 (8.74).
A part of Arkansas team titles every time he participated in the NCAA Indoor or Outdoor championships, Walder assisted the Razorbacks in claiming seven titles overall. He was the Razorbacks’ top scorer in six of those and the meet’s top scorer four times.